chicken jail

[dmccann]

Ok i again need some help,i had a broody hen ,put her in the all season room because of the cold temp here.I bought her eggs,she laid on them a while then lost interest.I then put her back with the other 12 hens,well to make a long story short they are beating her up,i put the worst two in jail.Probably 4 more hens are really mean towards her yet. I give them heads of lettuce,boss,cooked oatmeal,weekly yougart ,layer food,scratch and grit daily,of coarse fresh water also.They have an enclosed run,patrially covered.She is hiding in the nest box,so i go out and make sure she eats ok.Now these mean chickens are Amber links,raised from peeps,are these normally mean?The hen getting beat up is a red x,all the same age all layers.What else to do?thank u ssssooo much

 

[lotzahenz]

Hi,

That is a problem. I'd take the two jailbirds and let pardon them back to the coop. Now, I'd put the Newest member in "jail' instead, say a small pen or pet carrier in the coop. That way she can escape her tormentors and still get to know them. I think this is just pecking order working itself out. Your new hen needs to stay this way for as long as possible, maybe a week. Once they talk to her and let her know they are boss and bossy, you should let her out at night, when it is completely dark and place her on the roost with them, trying not to disturb them if you can. This has worked well for me, but the most important thing I think is to give the hens plenty of room. If the new girl can run away from her new frenemies, she will be fine. Just check on her often.

Good luck, hope you don't end up with a house chicken, but they do sell nice diapers if you need them.


HenZ

 

[dmccann]

This hen was raised with the other ones,so should i still do this?When i put her back i did it at nite and placed her on the roost,they say chickens can not count,i think mine can,